1 Think back to your last check-up. Did the doctor check your ears? It's a normal part of any yearly exam, as well as a common part of an exam for a sick patient. Do you know what the tool is called that the doctor uses? It is an otoscope.2 An otoscope is a medical tool used by health care professionals to look into the ears. It is a screening tool at a regular check-up, used to make sure the patient has healthy ears. It is also used to check the outer ear and middle ear when a patient has symptoms, such as fever, ear pain, or hearing loss.3 An otoscope is made of two main parts, the handle and the head. The handle is the part the doctor holds. It may be held with either a pencil grip or a hammer grip. The head contains a light source and a low-power magnifying lens. It also has the attachment for the ear speculum, a cone-shaped part that slides into the ear canal to see the eardrum. The ear speculum comes in different sizes. Why? Different people have different size canals. Children, for example, often need a narrower speculum than an adult.